Reconstructing Papua New Guinea’s Marine Fisheries Catch, 1950-2010

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Fisheries

We reconstruct marine fisheries catches for Papua New Guinea (PNG) from 1950-2010 to account for catches missing from official statistics. Annual national landings statistics are dominated by tuna catches, which have been relatively well documented since 2000. Nonetheless, PNG’s national fisheries statistics are still considered to be incomplete and underreported due to the omission of small-scale sector catches. This reconstruction thus focuses on quantifying PNG’s small-scale fisheries by accounting for unreported catches. Reconstructed total non-tuna catch in PNG was 2.4 million t from 1950-2010, suggesting that actual catches were around four times the 590,000 t of non-tuna catches reported by FAO on behalf of PNG for the same time period. Our results suggest that there is high socio-economic reliance on PNG’s small-scale inshore fisheries and that steps should be taken to ensure the future sustainability of this crucial food security resource and associated income opportunities.